Planning in Pencil: Candice Suarez’s Life Drafting After Tongue Cancer

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Content note: candid discussion of cancer diagnosis, surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, and recovery.

What if hope isn’t “it’ll be fine,” but “I can handle what comes”? That shift changed everything for Candice Suarez. In this conversation, Candice takes us inside a whirlwind season: a misread ulcer during COVID, a tongue-cancer diagnosis, surgery removing over half her tongue, a forearm graft, and weeks of radiation and chemo. She walks us through recovery’s gritty middle—managing pain, relearning to swallow, and returning to public speaking with a voice that invites the world to lean in.

Out of that crucible came Life Drafting—a practical, compassionate framework for navigating change by planning in pencil. Candice shares the four buckets she uses with clients and in her own life—health, connection, contribution, and play—and shows how small, honest edits compound into momentum. We talk agency under uncertainty, why identity can survive (and even grow) through loss, and how to build routines and relationships that make resilience a skill, not a slogan.

Candice also introduces Draft You, her six-month journal for young adults, and the Draft Lab coaching community that supports students and grownups in the “no longer, not yet” spaces of life.

You’ll learn:

• A grounded definition of hope that doesn’t hinge on perfect outcomes
• How to “plan in pencil” with the four Life Drafting buckets
• Weekly audits + micro-commitments that actually stick
• Ways identity grows through loss—and how to practice agency under uncertainty
• Why edits aren’t failures; they’re craft

If you’re staring down a transition—or helping someone you love through one—this episode offers tools you can use today.

Connect with Candice on her website and learn more LifeDrafting.

And her new book is out! - get it here: Draft You.

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For more stories, reflections, and ways to connect, visit www.DanielleElliottSmith.com or follow along on Instagram @daniellesmithtv and @HopeComestoVisit